PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi and John Viscardi

On Wednesday evening we were privileged to attend Classic Lyric Arts' "Concert at the Castle" along with a crowd of CLA Supporters, all of whom were delighted to witness the past, present, and future of this estimable program. A warm welcome from Founder and Artistic Director Glenn Morton, well known in operatic circles for his astute coaching and pedagogy in all three NYC music conservatories, introduced us to the myriad achievements of CLA--not only the immersive programs in Italy and France but the newly initiated program in the Berkshires which began last summer, focusing on the operas of Mozart.

Representing the past of CLA was tenor John Viscardi, a major light on American opera stages, who serves as Executive Director of CLA. Mr. Viscardi is an alumnus of both CLA's French program and Italian program; his linguistic facility gives evidence.  He opened the concert program with the tender "Chanson Triste" by Duparc. The performance was marked by perfect French diction (of course) and consummate expressiveness, alternating tender moments with expansive ones. He also closed the program performing a stunning duet with a surprise guest artist; we are going to keep you guessing her identity until the end of the review.

Another alumna of CLA is the lovely Daniela Magura, a beautiful mezzo-soprano with a luscious tone. She showed off her fine French in "Tristes apprêts", an aria from Rameau's Castor et Pollux that was new to our ears.  Her "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen, on the other hand, is almost overly familiar but we always enjoy hearing a singer whose take on the character is a bit different.  Ms. Magura's Carmen is more subtle than most, so confident in her ability to seduce that she can underplay it, thereby avoiding all the encrusted clichés. What an advantage to hear her diversity in two such different arias and to hear French sung so authentically in Gallic style.  More credit to CLA's French program which she attended twice.

Baritone Jared Werlein is new to us and we are always happy to hear a singer with comedic flair.  He is a student of Mr. Morton at Juilliard and his fluency in Italian surely comes from his prior attendance at CLA's Italian program. We were able to appreciate his ability to go from the well-known classic ("Madamina, il catalogo è questo" from Mozart's Don Giovanni) to a delightful 20th c British song, "The green-eyed dragon" by Wolseley Charles. The lyrics were so clever in their rhymes and the music so tuneful that we plan to search out more of Mr. Charles' music. Mr. Werlein did justice to both styles, more evidence of the versatility that we admire. 

Tenor Michael McDermott, another student of Mr. Morton at Juilliard,  also chose two very different pieces. His Italian selection was the well known and beloved Tosti song "Non t'amo piu" which he sang with Italianate passion and the multiplicity of emotions that the librettist intended. His use of pacing and dynamic variation brought intensity to the performance. Quite different was his more delicate delivery of "Ah, lève-toi soleil" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in which he showed an easily produced upper register and pleasing French which will be fine tuned this coming summer at CLA's French program.

New to CLA and representing its future is the beautiful soprano Julianne Casey who also alternated a French selection with an Italian one. "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's Hérodiade was sung with youthful rapture and some lovely resonance in the upper register. We liked the expansive top in "Se come voi piccina" from Le Villi, an early opera by Puccini with which we are unfamiliar. We cannot wait to hear her after her attendance at CLA's Italian program next summer.

And now we will tell you dear reader, as promised, about the stunning surprise climax to the program. One of Europe's most sought after sopranos, Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi, performed the role of Tosca in the first act duet, with Mr. Viscardi as her Mario. We found ourselves captivated not only by the vocal excellence but by the characterization given by Ms. D'Annunzio. We felt as if we really understood Tosca, not only her devotion to Mario but the insecurity that underlay her display of jealousy and the good will that allowed her to turn the jealousy into a little tease.

Ms. D'Annunzio Lombardi is on the faculty of CLA and brings to their programs a very unusual method of teaching, the likes of which we have never seen. Suffice it to say that the changes wrought by her tutelage have been astonishing. We have the greatest respect for results and for those master teachers that add value. Students can consider themselves extremely fortunate to fall into her hands.

The collaborative pianist for the evening was the gifted Xu Cheng who never fails to keep pace with the singers and permits all of them to shine in their own fashion.

We advise keeping an eye on Classic Lyric Arts.  Their history is significantly worthwhile, their present shows the flexibility demanded by the Covid pandemic, and they have a brilliant future as they expand in new ways, some of which are in the works and some of which we foresee in our crystal ball.

If you, dear reader, care to see photos of the event, they will be on our FB page--Voce di Meche.

© meche kroop

CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS SALON

Alexei Kuznietsov, Johanna Will, Carlos Arcos, Temple Hammen, Daniela Magura, Carolina López Moreno,
and Jake Landau

Last night we attended a lovely private salon held by Classic Lyric Arts, at which we were introduced to some very promising young singers and also had another opportunity to enjoy the ringing tenor of Alexei Kuznietsov who made such a strong impression at Monday's Around the World in Song.


We have written often about CLA and their total immersion programs held every summer for the past ten years in Italy, and almost as long in France. Every time we hear students from those programs we have been impressed by their facility with language and also by the sense that they know what they are singing about.

Because we love duets, we found ourself particularly pleased by "Belle nuit" from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman. Here, the role of Niklaus was sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Magura and soprano Julianna Will sang the part of the courtesan Giulietta. Collaborative pianist Jake Landau skillfully kept the gondola rocking!

We would not hear Ms. Magura in a solo aria but enjoyed her very much in the closing duet "Dôme épais" from Leo Delibes' Lakmé in which she sang Malika to the Leila of soprano Carolina López Moreno. The French was as fine as one could wish and the harmonies were luscious.

Ms. Moreno has a soprano of great promise and we thrilled to her emotional performance of "Tu che di gel sei cinta" from Puccini's Turandot. She has a real feel for Puccini as we heard in "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" from his La Rondine. In both cases, the Italian diction and phrasing were admirable and her voice opens beautifully at the top.

Ms. Will's fine instrument was heard in the "Jewel Song" from Gounod's Faust and in "Un bel di vedremo" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly. We are pleased to tell that her Italian was excellent and the sound of her voice was glorious.

Soprano Temple Hammen performed "Se il padre perdei" from Mozart's Idomeneo and the delightful "Du gai soleil" from Massenet's Werther. Both French and Italian were lovely.

Mr. Kuznietsov performed "Amor ti vieta" from Giordano's Fedora with an appealing vibrato that caught our ear. He also proved that a singer doesn't have to be Spanish to capture the essence of zarzuela. His "No puede ser" from Sorozábal's La tabernera del puerto was given full expression with plenty of variation in color.

Baritone Carlos Arcos performed Tosti's "Non t'amo più" with plenty of Latin passion and variety of dynamics, all the way down to a delicate pianissimo. His phrasing in "If ever I would leave you" from Loewe's Camelot reminded us of the very permeable border between opera and musical theater.

Mr. Landau's piano was supportive throughout without ever overwhelming the singers.

It was a very fulfilling evening and we are looking forward to hearing more of these special singers.

(c) meche kroop

CLASSIC LYRIC ARTS GALA

Classsic Lyric Arts Gala at The Kosciuszko Foundation

We believe in evidence.  Last night's recital at the Kosciuszko Foundation featured an incredibly talented and beautiful group of young artists who attended L'Art du Chant Francais and/or La Lingua della Lirica last summer in France and Italy respectively. The evidence for the success of the programs can be found in the superlative performances we witnessed. Every single artist revealed splendid diction and a feeling for the style inherent in the language.

This is not magic but the result of hard work under the tutelage of masters and total immersion in the culture and its traditions. The French program accepts ten singers each year and provides tutelage under principal coach Michele Sénéchal who emphasizes the music inherent in the text.

The Italian program accept twice as many students and instructs them in the bel canto tradition. The principal coach in Italy is Ubaldo Fabbri. We are not mentioning any names but we recently heard a rather well known singer perform in Italian with final vowels that were just wrong.  "A"s become "o"s and vice versa.  No graduate of La Lingua della Lirica would make that mistake!

The nurturing environment permits these young artists to take risks and try new roles.  And that is how an artist can make a major leap forward and gain confidence.

Every singer was excellent and the choices on the program were a mixture of the usual and the unusual.  Many of the selections featured large ensembles, the success of which was probably related to the group having spent so much time together--studying, eating,  playing, and performing for the appreciative locals.

After a warm welcome from Glenn Morton, President and Artistic Director, the program opened with a scene from Rossini's La Cenerentola sung in perfect Italian and accompanied by Mina Kim. Closing the program was the final scene from Verdi's Falstaff, a ten-part fugue skillfully conducted by Ms. Kim with Sophia Zhou at the piano.

Another fine ensemble piece was the sextet "Chi mi frena in tal momento" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, for which Cherie Roe provided the piano accompaniment.

Special guest star was baritone Jared Bybee about whom we have been writing since we began writing. We love watching young artists grow and, no doubt, Mr. Bybee's earlier participation in CLA has added to his lustre. We enjoyed him as an Apprentice Singer in Santa Fe and witnessed his performances in award recitals from all the major foundations.  Last night he performed "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He sang with full rich Italianate tone and gave Figaro a lively winning personality. Hsini Huang was his accompanist.

We will not be able to give all the singers the credit they deserve but would like to point out a few performances that stood out.  Tenor Zachary Goldman and baritone Fernando Cisneros harmonized beautifully in "O Mimi tu piu non torni" from Puccini's La Boheme. Mr. Goldman is notable for a lovely unforced sound and Mr. Cisneros seemed to appear in many scenes, singing with full round tone,  a winning stage presence and the ability to inhabit a role, even a Falstaff.

Soprano Yvette Keong and tenor Ryan Hurley put a lot of tenderness into their performance of "Tornami a dir che m'ami" from Donizetti's Don Pasquale.

Moving on to the French part of the program, we were delighted to hear "Va, je t'ai pardoné" from Gounod's Roméo et Juliette sung by the stunning soprano Larisa Martinez, about whom we have often written, and tenor Vincent Festa who sang Romeo with his ringing tenor and ardent involvement. We have heard him several times over the past 3 years and always enjoy his performances. Ms. Martinez made a winsome Juliet and both employed fine French diction. The air was literally ringing with overtones.

We didn't know that Reynaldo Hahn wrote an operetta and were tickled to hear "Nous avons fait un beau voyage" from Ciboulette which was based on the same Murger stories which inspired La Bohème. William Guanbo Su, who impressed us at his graduation recital and several performances which maximized the lower end of his register, surprised us with his facility at the upper end of his register; soprano Ashley Lea made a splendid partner in this cream puff of a duet.

Another operetta unknown to us was Ganne's Les Saltimbanques.  "C'est l'amour" featured Angela Candela and Mitchell Kasprzyk with Fabio Bezuti at the piano. Ms. Candela gave us yet another opportunity to appreciate her fine French in "Nocturne à deux voix" from Chabrier's Le roi malgré lui, performed in happy harmony with Amanda Nelson.

From Massenet's Cendrillon, we heard soprano Blair Cagney and mezzo-soprano Daniela Magura as the happily reunited couple in "Vous êtes mon prince charmant". Ms. Magura also had another opportunity to show off her fine French in "Nuit paisible et sereine" from Berlioz' Béatrice et Bénédicte. In our opinion, this gorgeous duet rivals "The Flower Duet" from Delibes' Lakmé and we hope to hear it again soon. 

So many fine singers have come out of this excellent program! We predict glorious futures for these young artists if they take what they've learned and use it well.  Great teachers present students with opportunities. Great students take what they need and incorporate it.

(c) meche kroop